A 3.8-Mile Walk

A Walk to the Medieval Pools

Sturdy shoes or boots are recommended.

Pets should be kept on leads at all times.

Start at The Gate Inn, cross the Weston Road (TAKE GREAT CARE) and walk up High Street to the Thatched Tavern. Turn left alongside the Thatched Tavern into China Corner and walk straight on until you pass through the narrow gap opposite, between the houses. This leads onto a cul-de-sac. Follow the footpath straight ahead through the houses until you pass the playground and reach the end of the houses beyond the “Private Drive” sign. Turn left and walk around the fenced culvert to the footpath signpost on the Weston Road. TAKE GREAT CARE when crossing this road. This is a very fast road.

Over/through your first pet-friendly stile. This path leads through a woodland area before reaching the next pet-friendly stile. Once over the stile, turn right and follow the edge of the field (headland) to a waymarker post in the corner of the field where you will turn left, continuing to follow the headland.

Across another pet-friendly stile, then continue straight on to the wooden bridge. Cross the bridge and continue along the headland in the same direction until you meet the next wooden bridge with a stile. This stile is not pet-friendly, but dogs regularly squeeze underneath.

Once over the stile, follow a 2 o’clock direction, to the left of the first telegraph pole, to the metal gate leading onto the bridge. Over the bridge; immediately turn right and up onto the bed of the old railway (there used to be ten rail tracks here, witness the concrete blocks for a footbridge to your right). Walk in an eleven o’clock direction and down the other side of the bank to a gate. Enter the field and walk in a one o’clock direction to the far right-hand corner passing over a bridge and then through/around the horse training rings. This field is Poden “Lost Village” dating back to 703 AD when it was granted to Evesham Abbey by Offa, King of Mercia. This field is protected as a DMV (Deserted Medieval Village). It cannot be ploughed or dug in any way. Over the stile and across the Poden Farm driveway, following the track into the next field to the gated bridge on your right. Over the bridge (noting the raised ground to the right that is the site of a medieval overshot mill) and then *** follow the fenceline in front of the stables to the field. This field was once a fish pond (constructed in the early middle ages) abutting the brook producing fish for the Abbott of Evesham. Follow the path along the headland on the left until you reach a stile in the far left-hand corner of this field. Over this stile and then immediately left over a bridge with stiles at each end, and turn immediately right and over the stile into the adjacent field. Walk in an eleven o’clock direction, crossing the drive of Far Poden Farm to reach the gated bridge that leads into Gloucestershire.

Follow the headland on the left of this field, passing over two stiles ** before reaching a kissing gate. Take a one o’clock direction up a short rise. The medieval ponds will now come into sight.

Retrace your steps back to The Gate Inn.

We hope you have enjoyed your walk today, and that we have whetted your appetite for a variety of future walks during 2019* in and around the Parish of Honeybourne.

Email steve@stephenbullen.com for copies of any walks, to express concerns, or seek advice on how to best enjoy Honeybourne’s Rights of Way.

* A great way to gently improve your fitness and wellbeing, whilst appreciating the beautiful countryside in which we live.